Correct. Nevertheless, the marignal cost to Microsoft of providing these license to Russian NGOs who either already have licenses, or who weren't going to buy a license anyway, is still effectively zero.

Microsoft are not forgoing any income here. Regardless of how much Windows costs to develop (and how much of Microsoft's labour bill is spent on people fluffing about) the point remains that the marginal cost to Microsoft of providing the licenses that are the topic of this thread is close to zero.

What they are getting, however, is a lot of free PR cred fromm poeple who are apparently too dense to work out that it IS effectively zero cost to Microsoft to provide these kinds of licenses.

Belay that last. Those people who contest this point know all about the true marginal cost of a Windows license to Microsoft, and they are not dense at all ... they just don't want it pointed out to other people. Pointing it out reduces the PR value.